Electronic devices and systems are pervasive in modern society. The key components of many modern electronic systems and devices include semiconductor chips. The semiconductor chips may be used for a variety of purposes and include such things as control circuitry and memory devices.
Many of the semiconductor chips that are used for various applications consist of a semiconductor die that is housed in a package. The semiconductor die contained in a package is electrically connected to the input and output leads of the package. The package is in turn electrically coupled to various other circuitry in the electronic device. Among the inputs that are supplied to the chip from the other circuitry to which it is coupled is a power supply input.
The power that is supplied to the chip by the other circuitry is often not adequate for the chip's requirements. This may be the case for a variety of reasons. For example, the power supply may have too much noise for the chip to function at its optimum level.
The high current drive bandgap based voltage regulator includes a high current drive output transistor having a transistor input terminal and a transistor output terminal. A feedback network is coupled between the output of the transistor and the input terminal of the transistor. The high current drive bandgap based voltage regulator also includes an operational amplifier in the feedback loop. The operational amplifier has at least two operational amplifier input terminals and an operational amplifier output terminal. The operational amplifier output terminal is coupled to the transistor input terminal and the operational amplifier input terminals are coupled to the transistor output terminal. The output of the voltage reference generation circuit is coupled to the output of the high current drive transistor.